The Twinrise Dilemma
by NoLemonsForMe
Summary: The Doctor is in mourning. Meanwhile on the planet Makarosh the twin suns are about to rise again and 'the Corporation' is making people sick. Can a new adventure help the Doctor to focus his thoughts elswhere? The story is set near the end of 'Doomsday' and contains some spoilers for those who might not have seen the Doomsday episode.
1. Preface

**Hello! This is my first Doctor Who story, please be kind, though feel free to R&R :^)  
Doctor Who Copyright BBC - I do not own the Doctor, Rose, Pete or the TARDIS, but the other characters are mine :P**

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**Preface**

"Nooooo!", the Doctor screamed as he saw his faithful companion get sucked towards the Void. It couldn't end like this! Suddenly Pete appeared just in time to catch his daughter and press the yellow button that allowed them to jump through to the other dimension and disappear just before the Void closed itself. The Doctor let go of the lever he had been holding on to and sadly walked up to the white wall where she had disappeared from him forever. Leaning against the whiteness he could feel a faint trace of her leaning against the same wall in the other dimension. Then he left the white coldness and started towards his TARDIS. Would he ever see his Rose again?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The first of the two suns rose over the planet of Makarosh. Since the second sun was to rise three hours after the first one a very hot day was promised, which was normal this time of year. Rising the way they did prolonged the day and made midday extremely hot. Only once every second year did the two suns rise together. The day after the twin sunrise, or twinrise as it was also called, was the only time the people of Makarosh held a festival to celebrate two more years of fortune. The fortune lie in the fact that when the two suns rose together there was a risk of them colliding and if they did they would effectively take the planet with them in the great explosion that would follow. Because of this risk every second year the inhabitants of Makarosh lived in fear the weeks leading up to the twinrise. This day, it was a month until the twinrise was to happen again, but there was something other than that bothering the people of the planet.

A research facility called simply 'The Corporation' had been built many years back promising to find a way to avoid the inevitable explosion. It was a large building in grey stone surrounded by a wire fence located just outside Makarosh's biggest city. Regularly they were looking for new staff and personell to help them with their research but the only thing they had accomplished so far was creating an illness that caused everyone who had been in contact with the Corporation to become sick and some also die from it. The illness had symptoms like heat strokes, dementia, frequent nose bleed, extreme fatigue and tumors in some cases. Because of this the people of Makarosh avoided the Corporation as much as possible, but when the twinrise approached, more and more applied for a job to ease their fear and highten their hope of surviving two more years.

Drey-La, a young Makaroshian, was sitting in the sunlit market-place thinking about her fear of the next twinrise, her family and especially her mother. One or two tears ran down her cheeks. The twinrise often made her think of her mother. Drey-Las mother Madi-La had been one of those who signed up for a job at the Corporation and it had seemed to go well the first few months. The payment meant the family was making quite an amount of money and from what Madi-La was saying the Corporation was making progress in finding a solution to the explosion. But then even her mother had gotten sick. It had started with a few nose bleeds which had worried Lash-El, Drey-Las father. Madi-La had assured them all that she was fine and they had believed her for a while but when she started getting dizzy and forgetful the hole family knew that she wasn't. Three months later she had passed away. That was three years ago today. Her death had affected the whole family greatly. Lash-El had decided to quit his job to be able to grief, Drey-Las brother Krae-El was in his fathers stead forced to find a job and Drey-La had to be at home to take care of her depressed father. The atmosphere between them was not very good and whenever Drey-La had time to get out of the house she did. It was the only time she felt that she could grieve and be herself.

As she sat there she heard a strange noise she hadn't heard before on Makarosh sounding like a swirling, wheezing sound. Was the explosion about to happen earlier than what was told? In the middle of the market-place a blue angular form was appearing. Drey-La blinked a few times, half believing she too had fallen ill but suddenly the form was fully materialized. "Police box" was written on it, a word she had not heard before. Cautiously she approached it but stopped in her step when the doors suddenly opened and a thin man exited. There were not many people in the market-place so the thin man looked directly at Drey-La. He had dark, unruly hair and dark brown eyes. His thin body was draped in clothes she had never seen before, a striped suit of some kind much different from her brother's or her father's baggier garments which was the natural thing to wear on Makarosh. Drey-La herself wore a long purple-coloured dress. The Doctor greeted her and she nodded in response.

"Wh- who are you", asked Drey-La. "And what is that box thing?"

"I'm the Doctor and the 'box thing' is my ship", the Doctor replied.

"You have a functioning ship?"

Drey-La lit up and approached the Doctor and his ship, happy to see a possible way of getting away from Makarosh. Was this a way for some of her wishes to come true? The ship wasn't very big, but if he could maybe help the Corporation in making more ships they could leave the planet before the explosion.

"Are you here to help the Corporation and us with the twinrise, Doctor?".

The Doctor looked at the ash blonde girl and thought of Rose. How long had it been? He quickly cast that thought aside and noticed that the young woman in front of him had been crying not long ago. In relation to that he answered her question.

"Maybe I can. What is the twinrise, and the Corporation?"

He listened intently to what Drey-La had to say. If he could help them it would be a chance for him to focus his thought and energy on something other than his lonelyness for a while. As Drey-La as thoroghly as she could explained the situation on the planet, the Doctor could indeed se the problem Drey-La and the Makaroshians had and wanted to delve into the mystery of Makarosh as soon as possible. Drey-La invited the Doctor to her home hoping that her father wouldn't be too angry of having a stranger unexpectedly in his house. As they walked the narrow streets to Drey-La's house he tried to get a sense of the city. It seemed to be a pretty small city although Drey-La had said it was the planet's biggest. The houses were grey, probably made out of sand, with roofs made of what appeared to be some kind of thatch. There weren't much vegetation although large yellow and green flowers were planted here and there and tufts of blue grass were growing in clusters. Other than that the planet seemed to consist mostly of sand. It was probably because of the two suns the vegetation looked as it did and the Doctor assumed that it didn't rain very often either.

As they came closer to Drey-La's house the Doctor noticed a young man leaning against one of the sandy buildings, seemingly dizzy or exhausted, and walked up to him. The almost black hair lay plastered on the young man's face.

"Are you alright", the Doctor asked, putting a compassionate hand on the man's back. The man took a deep breath and nodded in response.

"Thank you, yes I will be in a moment." The Doctor fished up a small bottle from one of his deep pockets containing some water and gave it to the man. He thanked for the kindness and then insisted of leaving them so that he could continue on his way. From what Drey-La had told him the Doctor suspected that this man suffered from the illness the Corporation caused and he hoped that the black haired youth would be OK.

They continued walking and was soon approaching Drey-La's house. Loud voices were heard from the inside that sounded as if Lash-El and Krae-El were arguing about something. Seconds later Krae-El stormed out and almost walked straight into the Doctor and Drey-La. Krae-El looked alot like his sister, ash-gray hair, bright eyes and a small mouth. He wore burgundy baggy trousers and a short sleeved shirt over a tanned, muscular body. While doing this observation Drey-La and Krae-El had already started talking.

"What's wrong, why did you storm out like that?, asked Drey-La. "Why don't you come inside again, I have something important to tell you. This man has promised to try and help us."

"Hello, I'm the Doctor", the Doctor said and held out his hand. Krae-El took one look at him but didn't take his hand. Instead he turned back to his sister.

"I can't take this anymore", he started. "I'm going to the Corporation. Something has to be done, and we need the money! I can't take seeing our father in this state much longer." Drey-La tried to stop him, convincing him to stay knowing what would happen if he went there.

"And so do you!", she half screamed to her brother. But it was futile, her brother had already decided to go and he left Drey-La and the Doctor where they stood, marching away from the house.

With tears in her eyes Drey-La turned her head away as her brother walked off. She told the Doctor that she really hoped he could help them. The problems escalated all the time and now it looked as if her family was falling apart even more. She took some deep breaths and then opened the door to the dark, dimly lit room inside where Lash-El was sat on a sofa-like piece of furniture deep in thought. He hardly looked up as Drey-La and the Doctor walked inside. Drey-La took some slow, cautious steps up to the old man.

"Father, this is the Doctor. He has promised to help us with our problems. Will you talk to him?" She sat down in front of him looking him up in his eyes. They were grey and sad.

"What's the point, my daughter." He spoke with a slow, mumbling voice, as if it was hard to pronounce the words. "The next twinrise is soon to happen, which could well be the last, I have lost my dear wife and now I have also lost my son. I wouldn't blame you if you walked away aswell, leaving me in my misery." His eyes seemed to get even greyer and Drey-La knew it was meaningless to say anything more. Now all her hopes lay with the Doctor. She got to her feet and turned to the Doctor, a man she had just met, but who had been standing reassuringly behind her the whole time. He too looked a bit sad but gave her a small smile and led her outside again. He told her it was better not to worry her father even more.

"I have to do something, Doctor!", Drey-La spoke with a tearful voice. He agreed.

"I must say that I had planned on gaining some more information first, but now I'm getting eager in making acquaintance with this Corporation. It's better if you stayed here though, it would ruin your father if something happened to you." The Doctor knew it could be, and most certainly would be, dangerous to enter the Corporation facility. It was the usual when it came to the Doctor.

"You can't leave me behind on this. My whole family is on the line and if I don't come home with my brother intact my father is already ruined! No, Doctor, I insist on coming with you."

"Fine", the Doctor stated. "But you'll have to do as I say, it might be very dangerous!"

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I'm not an astropsycisist and wouldn't know the first thing about how a planet with two suns would work so what I'm writing is completely out of my imagination.**

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**Chapter 2**

The day progressed. Drey-La and the Doctor had decided to go and investigate at the Corporation later that night, when it was darker. Of course it wouldn't be pitch black this time of year because of the suns, but they had nevertheless decided to wait until the darkest time of the day. In the mean time Drey-La showed the Doctor around and told him some more of the situation on the planet. She told him that long ago, there had been no problem with the suns. It was only relatively recent that they had noticed that the suns seemed to have gotten closer to each other which had caused the great fear of them one day colliding and exploding. This intrigued the Doctor. What could have happened to change the suns' courses and to make them closer to each other? This was a mystery he really wanted to find out about. She also told him that it was only the past four years that the Corporation had started looking for personell. Before that it had been a building much like any other, minding their own business, but telling the people they were working into the sun problem. This too intrigued the Doctor. Why did they suddenly need new people?

Just then the first light from the second sun could be seen at the horizon. Drey-La suggested they go to one of the quenchers of the city and buy something to drink since it soon would become very hot. She picked one in the same market-place they had met just a couple of hours before. Sitting down she noticed his box again. She had almost forgot about it.

"How do you fly such a small ship?", she asked. "It doesn't seem to have a very big engine".

The Doctor smiled at her. The majority of all the people he'd met were astonished by his ship and home, a home that, tragically, now was empty. Once again he put the thought aside and tried to answer the young girl's question instead.

"It's difficult to explain", he started "but I can show you sometime. Let's just say there's more to it than meets the eye."

"I think that can be said about you too", replied Drey-La. "You look young, but your eyes hide something very old. And I sense something bad has happened to you too recently."

The memory of what had happened not too long ago flashed before his eyes, but he chose to ignore it. He had to leave that aside for now. Instead of answering her question the Doctor looked to the rising twin sun and noticed that it was red and a whole lot bigger than the other one.

"Ah, a supergiant...", he thought out loud. He felt Drey-La's eyes on him and continued on his spoken-out-loud thought. "I'm so sorry Drey-La..."

"What?", she asked.

He continued. "Your two suns will never collide, which may sound like a good thing, but that sun is a supergiant, a dying sun that will continue to expand until it explodes. Nothing can stop that from happening."

She took a sip of her drink, and the Doctor could see she was chocked to have heard what he had said. It didn't really change things though, the Makaroshians still needed to find a way to get off the planet if they wanted it to remain. The Corporation was said to work on that, but were they really? The Doctor had no idea when the supergiant would explode, but knew that he couldn't save all the Makaroshians in his TARDIS. A supergiant was a natural phenomenon and therefore an event he couldn't do anything about. Saving these people from the supergiant possibly meant changing the timelines too much and that was something he could not do. The illness on the other hand could have something unnatural behind it and that was what he intended to help the Makaroshians with.

The rest of the day the Doctor and Drey-La talked of happier things and good memories. He had even managed to talk a little about one of his and Rose's experiences. Time seemed to fly away as the day passed and soon they deemed it dark enough to start for the Corporation's facility, a walk that would take them approximately 20 minutes.

Ten minutues from their destination there were fewer and fewer buildings and they were soon out of the city. Not far ahead they spotted a figure lying in the road ahead of them making the Doctor quicken his pace to examine what it was, Drey-La not far behind. Reaching the figure he saw that sadly it was the black haired man they had met earlier that day. The Doctor checked for a pulse but it was gone, the man was dead. He closed the man's eyes and sighed in fury. This was only fuel on his fire of wanting to investigate what the Corporation was really up to. Deciding to leave the man for the time being and come back later to take him back to the city Drey-La and the Doctor continued on their way and soon reached the wired fence around the Corporation. Behind it lay the big, grey building in silence. There was a booth were a guard was situated to the left of them and they snuck around the corner so as not to be seen by him.

"What now, Doctor?", asked Drey-La. "Shall I go and try to lure the guard away?"

The Doctor searched his pockets and grinned as he found what he was looking for. "That will not be necessary, Drey-La. How about we try my plan first?"

Drey-La looked on as the Doctor held out a silvery stick against the fence. It was his sonic screwdriver and most used gadget of his which could be used on a lot of things out of metal, not least the fence they were standing in front of now. He pressed a button and the stick started to whir and shine with a blue light and before she knew it some threads came lose and a big enough hole for the Doctor and her had magically appeared.

"How about that?", the Doctor said with a big grin on his face.

Drey-La returned his grin and then started sprinting through the hole and towards the building. She didn't want to waste time when they were so close to their goal. The Doctor wanted to yell for her to wait but realized that it would only draw attention to themselves. Instead he decided to follow her as fast as he could. He caught up with her and told her to please take it easy.

"We don't want the guards to catch us before we are even inside the building, do we?"

They found a partially hidden door on which the Doctor once again used his sonic screwdriver and slowly opened it. It gave away a small squeak and the Doctor peeked inside. What he saw was a long, brightly lit corridor with a few doors. No guards. He took three soundless steps inside and signed to Drey-La to do the same and put a finger over his lips to point out to her that they should try to be as silent as possible.

They started walking down the corridor leading to the right. When they came to the first door the Doctor put his ear on it to listen if anybody was inside. He heard nothing. As carefully as before he opened the door an entered a small office. Drey-La followed him.

"Where is everyone?", she whispered as the Doctor had already started to look around. There were several pictures in the office that showed the twin suns and views of Makarosh and there was also some framed diplomas. Drey-La walked up to one of them. It read: To doctors Mashi-El and Barae-El for their invaluable knowledges in space and astrophysics. The next one read: The center for mining & minerals presents this certificate to doctor Barae-El, for his great achievements in the field.

"I think they're working on a mining project", the Doctor suddenly said. "Here are some maps of the facility and it looks like they include the underground too. "

"Yes, I think you are right Doctor. I just read a diploma for a Barae-El for his achievements in mining and minerals. Could it be they are working with dangerous materials that can be behind the illness?", she continued.

"Hm, possibly", replied the Doctor. "But let's keep investigating." He went to the door again and snuck out as silently as he had snuck in and continued down the corridor. Now and then he stopped to listen for signs of people, but he heard none.

"As you said before, Drey-La. Where is everyone?"

They came to the end of the corridor with two doors on either side and examined one door each. Drey-La tried hers but noticed it was locked, though she thought she had heard something behind it.

"Doctor", she whispered. "This is locked, couldn't we use your silvery stick again?"

The Doctor's door had been open. "Hold on Drey-La. There's a hangar in here. Mybe they are working on something helpful after all?"

Following the Doctor's lead Drey-La left the door and followed the Doctor into the new-found hangar where she saw a huge spaceship. The ceiling, she noticed could be opened and it looked as if the ship was ready for lift-off at any time. She was pleased to see it. This hopefully meant that the Corporation had indeed been working on something that could help them. The illness might just have been an unfortunate side effect, she thought. The Doctor on the other hand looked deep in thought. He walked closer to the ship and examined it with his sonic screwdriver. Once again he thought out loud and didn't hear the muffled sound from behind him.

"This ship doesn't have the capacity to fly everyone on Makarosh to safety. It's way too small!"

And then everything went black for the Doctor.

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**Hope you like it! You're halfway through, but there is plenty more to come :). Please Rate and Review.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Doctor? Doctor, wake up!" It was Drey-La's voice that brought the Doctor back from unconsciousness but at first he had thought it was Rose. He rubbed the back of his head where he had been hit and took a look first at Drey-La to see if she was alright and then at the small cell they had been placed in. It was a small room with no windows containing two ledges that were meant to be used as beds. A small light shone from the ceiling.

"Whoever hit me really had the ability to stay silent", the Doctor said after inspecting the cell. "Did you see where they came from?", asked the Doctor.

Drey-La told the Doctor that she hadn't seen much either, but assumed that they must have come the same way as they had. She wondered if they might have come from downstairs. That could very well be true, the Doctor thought.

"But come on, let's try and get out of here before someone comes." He started reaching for his screwdriver once again but was interrupted by Drey-La who said:

"I have already thought of that, Doctor. I noticed a small hole in one of the slabs in the ceiling and jumped up to examine it. It was loose and I think it might lead to a ventilation shaft. I'm too short to reach it though."

The Doctor grinned, held out his hands and helped Drey-La up to the ceiling, using his hands as a temporary step. When she was up Drey-La reached for him to climb up aswell. With some difficulty he was soon able to reach it. Inside it was a little claustrophobic but nonetheless they started crawling to the left as silently as they could. The narrow shaft led them onwards for what seemed like forever and the air was thick. They had to find a way down soon, Drey-La hoped. The Doctor crawled first and stopped now and then to listen for anything that might help them. Further ahead he finally saw light coming from beneath the ventilation shaft and scurried over to it. The light shone through a grate over a small dark room. What he heard was a conversation between two men.

"How good of you to finally listen to reason and start working for us. I'm sorry we didn't have the chance of talking until now, but I hope you've had a pleasant visit so far. We just have to do a quick test on you and then you can start working. Do you have any questions?"

Both Drey-La and the Doctor listened intently and shortly the other man in the room answered.

"Yes, I have one question. When can I go home again? I'm sure my family is worried about me."

The Doctor could feel Drey-La flinch, trying to move forwards.

"Doctor, that's Krae-El's voice", she whispered, strained. He shushed her to be able to hear the rest of the conversation, but he got worried for her sake. The man that had spoken first, and which the Doctor assumed was a man in charge, answered Krae-El. The Doctor was glad that he hadn't heard them.

"Home? You'll not be going home in a while I'm afraid. Not the 'you' I'm talking to atleast. Take him away", he said lastly as another unknown man led Krae-El away.

They waited until the first man too had left the room to utter another word. Drey-La was the one to talk first.

"What did he mean by 'not the you I'm talking to' Doctor?", she asked. The Doctor had started to work on the grate as he answered her.

"I have my suspicions Drey-La..." The grate came loose and he jumped down to the room below after which he helped Drey-La down too. This was another small office similar to the one they had been in before. And as in that room the Doctor started to look for clues to this mystery. He found several folders which he skimmed through and suddenly smiled obliquely.

"I see my suspicions were true", he said as he put the folder down again.

"What, Doctor?"

He didn't answer her. Instead he just suggested they find a way downstairs. Using the memory he had of the map he had read before he thought he would be able to find the right way. He walked to the door and indicated for her to follow. Reaching the door to downstairs he realized it had been the door in front of the hangar which Drey-La had found to be locked earlier. They had gotten there without any difficulties but suddenly two guards came round the corner behind them. The Doctor thought they looked familiar somehow.

"Stop! Stay were you are", they shouted.

The Doctor hurriedly took out his screwdriver again and opened the door, half pushing himself and Drey-La inside even though he did not know what lay behind the door. He locked it behind them, hoping that the guards didn't have the key close at hand.

"Now what, Doctor?" an irritated Drey-La asked. "We don't know what we are walking into down here and the guards can come through anytime!"

"What would you have me do then?", the Doctor snapped back. "I didn't want us getting captured again, and for my part getting another bump on the head. No, I say we go downwards and onwards."

That oblique grin he had had in the office reappeared and Drey-La couldn't understand what was so funny. But they still started walking downwards. Soon they heard chopping and hacking sounds as well as voices down in the darkness, though a gloomy light seemed to come from there. The man they had heard in the office before spoke.

"You'll have to work faster or you will never get home!" The voice was angry and loud but the Doctor thought it sounded somewhat unnatural.

"I gather we have found the mine we assumed existed", Drey-La said.

They walked a bit further down to be able to see the place. Overhead they could hear the guards finally being able to open the door. Guesses were they had called for more guards to aid them.

"By the suns, here must be at least 100 workers!", Drey-La exclaimed.

It was a huge, dark cave seemingly only connected to the top by the staircase he and Drey-La were standing on. The Doctor couldn't see the man who had talked before but he did see a large screen hanging from the ceiling. Presumably that's were the voice had come from and what made it sound unnatural. Other than that the mine seemed to be more or less empty though there was an area with tables and benches. Suddenly hearing the guards coming down the stairs he shouted:

"Miners! I know you have been fooled. I can help you out of here, but you must be quick. Guards are coming down the stairs as we speak."

This seemed to have been what the workers had been waiting for. In no time at all they stopped working and were now looking at the Doctor and Drey-La who walked down from the staircase and off to the side. When the guards were visible the strongest of the workers rushed for the guards, overpowered them and tied them up with a nearby rope. The workers sheered. Although they were not yet free they soon would be. That's when Drey-La recognized some of the people.

"How?", she thought and got scared, but then she saw a face she thought she would never see again. Tears started falling down her cheeks and she started running for who she saw.

"Mother! You're alive!" As fast as she could Madi-La too started hurrying over to her daughter she hadn't seen in a long time.

"I thought I would never see you again", they said in unison.

The Doctor looked happily on for a while but then urged everyone to follow him upstairs, before more guards would come. In a long line they then followed the Doctor up the stairs and through the doors.

"Drey-La, take my screwdriver and point it at the door we entered through and go back to the city. I will come after you in a while", the Doctor said as they reached the top. "If I'm not back within an hour, come back för me." Drey-La nodded in understanding. Then the Doctor turned to the rest of the many people and said:

"When I say run, run. Run!"

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**A little reference to the old series here ;). One chapter more to go where hopefully all questions will be answered. Once again, rate and review !**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After having seen the 100 people happily run back to freedom the Doctor walked the two steps to the hangar door and opened it. Behind it were some twenty guards on their way over to him, undoubtedly on their way to stop the runaway miners. It looked as if they guards were perfect copies of two people. Half the guards looked like one man while the other half exactly like another. The Doctor noticed that there were several connecting doors to the hangar on the other side of the large room he hadn't noticed before. That's probably were everyone had been hiding before, he thought. Before being run over by the strange group of guards the Doctor lift his hands in surrender and they slowed down.

"I give up, now take me to your leader. I don't usually get the chance to say that", he said with a big grin.

The guards cuffed his hands behind his back and took him to one of the rooms on the other side. There they pushed him in while they waited outside. In the office-like room, much like the other rooms he had been in during his visit to this facility, he came face to face with two men. These men, the Doctor assumed, were the original copies since they too looked like the many guards. They stared shocked at the Doctor, as if not understanding why he was there.

"What do you want? Gloat?", said the first man angrily. He was short and wide, a beige coat hung over his shoulders. "Oh, we have heard what you have done. But we can start again, you just wait and see..."

The Doctor was about to reply to him but was interrupted by the other man.

"Shut up, Barae-El", said the other man suddenly, tiredly. He reminded of the man he had called Barae-El, as short as him, but thinner. He too wore a beige coat.

"Can't you see it's over. We have lost. He is obviously here to arrest us."

"No, actually I-" the Doctor tried but was interrupted again.

"He can't do anything to us, Mashi-El", Barae-El said. The Doctor just looked on dumbfounded at them as they quarrelled. "I say we throw him into the mine and recapture the people."

"With what?", said Mashi-El. "You know the clones are not strong enough."

"Hold on yo-", the Doctor tried again but to no avail.

"But we have to do something!", exclaimed Barae-El. "I don't want to be here when the sun explodes."

The Doctor couldn't take it any longer so he interrupted them angrily by saying:

"Fingers on lips!"

That had stopped them talking and the Doctor took the opportunity to say what he had planned to.

"Firstly, no, I'm not here to arrest you. Secondly, there would be no use in throwing me into the mine since I have friends who will come back for me if I'm not back within the hour and thirdly, will you just please tell me exactly why you are doing all this?"

That had obviously chocked them and they reluctantly took turns in telling the Doctor their story. It began when they had first discovered the twinrise dilemma. They decided to find out what lay behind it and at first, when they had set up and built the facility, they had hoped that their research would help them understand how the suns moved and that they, despite what was thought, hopefully were harmless. When of course they found out the truth they had panicked and started building a spaceship that would take them far away. Realizing they were not able to build a big enough spaceship for everyone they decided to leave on their own, though the spaceship still needed lots of fuel that would take the spaceship far enough. That's where the mining came in. Barae-El had found that there were minerals in the earth that could be used as fuel and using a cloning machine they'd built, they had hoped to clone themselves in order to mine the minerals. Soon they realized though that the clones were to weak and died from the exertion.

"And that's when you started looking for other personell?", the Doctor broke in.

Mashi-El nodded.

"But we couldn't just kidnap the people so we decided to clone them and send the clones home. The real, stronger person we could use as mine workers."

Or slaves, the Doctor thought. But he understood now. It hadn't been out of evil they had done it all, but out of fear. Nonetheles, it had still been incredibly egoistical.

"So what are your plans now", he asked them."My suggestion is that you follow me back to the city and face your crime, apologize to the people. They might forgive you in this new light on things."

The two men looked at each other and nodded. "You're probably right."

They left the office but not before removing the handcuffs from the Doctor's wrists. Outside some clones had collapsed, probably from all the exertion. The rest had disappeared. They started walking to the exit when suddenly Barae-El and Mashi-El broke off and sprinted to the spaceship.

"No, wait!", the Doctor shouted. "You'll never make it far enough in that ship. You'll be stranded in deep space somewhere!"

"And what choice do we have, Doctor? It's either the fury from the people or from the universe. We'd rather take our chances on our own!"

And so they entered their ship and closed the hatch before the Doctor could say anything more.

Meanwhile in the city the lost people had come home. They were now preparing for a big feast to celebrate the homecoming of their lost people. It might be one of the last feasts they held, but since the sun could explode at any time they had decided to celebrate each day instead of every two years as they had done before. When Lash-El had seen his wife he thought was long dead he had been so happy he cried and immediately ran up to her and embraced her. They were sitting next to each other and had only left each others side when Drey-La wanted to talk to her mother alone.

"There's one thing I don't understand, mother", she started. "If the guards were so easily overpowered, why didn't you flee before?"

Madi-La had something sad behind her eyes as she answered her.

"My dear Drey-La, if we could have escaped we would. But Barae-El and Mashi-El locked us down there with no way of getting out. We were only showed to the door and ordered to work. Food from them and minerals from us were only exchanged using lifts in the ceiling. The only communications we had with the upside world was with them and the screen Mashi-El and Barae-Els had put up to be able to talk to us, giving us orders."

Drey-La understood. She was so happy now that her mother had come home again. But where was Krae-El?

As she finished that thought she could see two men coming out of an alley. It was the Doctor and Krae-El. The Doctor explained that he had found him on a table connected to a machine in the cloning room.

"What of Mashi-El and Barae-El?", asked someone.

"They are gone." The Doctor said it with a hint of sadness in his voice. He knew they, with as little fuel as they had, would eventually die in their ship. "And all the clones they made will in time die", he said lastly.

A moment of silence came until Lash-El spoke.

"Enough with tragedy. Let's celebrate the fortune of living the last days of this planet with family and good friends. He hugged his wife. Hopefully Nok-Por and Rok-Sor will burn for years still."

When Lash-El had mentioned Nok-Por the Doctor had been reminded of a lost memory. He had heard of the sun called Nok-Por long ago but now he remembered.

"Nok-Por?", he asked joyfully "The disappearing sun! Oh, if I've only known the name before, I know how to help you now!"

Everyone was looking at him strangely. The odd man who had appeared from out of nowhere, and helped them in ways they thought were not possible. And now he claimed he could help them even more. He started walking towards his TARDIS when Drey-La caught him.

"Where are you going, Doctor? Will you not stay and celebrate with us?"

"No, Drey-La. But you celebrate. He smiled at her. "Celebrate a normal life without having to fear an exploding sun anymore. I've figured out a way to help you", he said to her as he turned away and walked off. "And possibly a way to help myself too," he said to himself.

Getting into his TARDIS he travelled forward in time to a point when the supergiant was just about to explode and become a supernova. Then he jumped into action.

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**There, finished. But don't forget to read the cue ;).**

**Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed the story!**


	6. Cue

**Cue**

"Where are you?", a tearful Rose asked. "Inside the TARDIS", the Doctor answered her. "There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes alot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a super nova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye..."

**THE END**

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**Ps. The piece of script above is unfortunately not by my imagination. Copyright BBC and Russel T Davies. **


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